FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT WATER SUPPLY - PAGE 5

NEW DELHI: Connaught Place office district and Lutyens Bungalow Zone--home to New Delhi's priciest offices and residences--will soon get round-the-clock water supply. The New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) has decided to overhaul its water supply system in the NDMC area of the city over the next three years. Water in these areas is currently supplied twice everyday—once each in the morning and evening, which also leads to wastages at the user end as stored water is often drained out to fill in fresh supplies.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Relief work in Andhra Pradesh's cyclone-hit districts continued at a brisk pace amid expectations that essential services would be restored in a major way by tomorrow evening, six days after Hudhud struck the coastal belt resulting in loss of 38 lives and large-scale destruction. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the entire administration has been working hard to bring back normalcy in the affected areas. Most of the localities in the port city, which bore the brunt of the cyclone fury on Sunday, were receiving power and drinking water supplies, he said.

NEW DELHI: The government will have to regulate the supply of water for irrigation and drinking in western and parts of southern India as exceptionally weak monsoon has rapidly depleted reservoirs that normally start filling up rapidly by the end of June and provide water for the rest of the year. The situation can be salvaged if the monsoon quickly bounces back from the current seasonal deficit of 42 per cent. The India Meteorology Department maintains that rainfall will improve, but other forecasters are not so optimistic.

What is viability gap funding? There are many projects with high economic returns, but the financial returns may not be adequate for a profit-seeking investor. For instance, a rural road connecting several villages to the nearby town. This would yield huge economic benefits by integrating these villages with the market economy, but because of low incomes it may not be possible to charge user fee. In such a situation, the project is unlikely to get private investment.

VISAKHAPATNAM/HYDERABAD: Authorities were today busy taking steps to restore the battered infrastructure in Visakhapatnam and other cyclone-hit districts in coastal Andhra Pradesh , apart from ensuring supply of essential commodities. The electricity system has suffered huge damage in the city with hundreds of electric poles in the city being uprooted due to gusty winds and repair efforts were on at a frantic pace. However, officials said full restoration may take more time.

NEW DELHI: The government is planning to launch the 'Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana' this month to ensure water supply to farmers round the year, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today. "Just as Atal Bihari Vajpayee had launched the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) connecting villages, we will launch 'Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana' most likely this month itself," Singh said addressing a function to mark "water week". The basic contours of the agri-irrigation programme would be on lines of the PMGSY, under which each irrigation project would be selected for releasing funds by the state government after seeking nod of the concerned Zilla Parishad , he said.

The fast developing western suburb of Mira Road is all set to become one of the most sought-after residential destinations considering good connectivity and affordability. One of the major reasons responsible for the development of Mira Road is the active Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation . "Today , the cost of homes in buildings with G+5 storey and without too many amenities is between Rs 4,000 and 4,500 psf. The cost of homes in tall buildings of about G+14 floors is between Rs 4,800 and 6,000 psf," says Samantak Das, National Head - Research of Knight Frank India.

This week's " Poke Me ", invites your comments on Why real estate is a bad long term investment . The feature will be reproduced on the edit page of the Saturday edition of the newspaper with a pick of readers' best comments. So be poked and fire in your comments to us right away. Comments reproduced in the paper will be the ones that support or oppose the views expressed here intelligently. Feel free to add reference links etc in support of your comments. Ajay Shah , Professor, NIPFP Most people in India are convinced that real estate is a great asset.

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today retained key ministries with the BJP while allocating portfolios to the 20-member council of ministers, including 10 of Shiv Sena as against its demand for plum ministries like Home, Revenue etc. The Sena, understood to have hard bargained with BJP for "money-spinning" departments like Home, Finance, Revenue and Water Resources, finally settled for ministries like Environment, Public...

What is rural and what is urban is largely an artefact of definition and relative. See the table below. Most of India's 'rural' population resides in villages that contain between 500 and 5,000 inhabitants. Some argue that in other countries, many of these villages would be classified as urban. These studies point out that if India were to be a little more liberal in its definition of urban areas (minimum of 75% non-agricultural employment), then a majority of India would be urban today.